Robert McKinley, Senior Analyst/Editor
Robert McKinley is an analyst of the payments industry on a daily basis for 32 years covering payment cards and payment systems from both the business side and the consumer side. McKinley is the retired founder and chief executive of RAM Research, CardWeb and CardTrak. In his prior position, McKinley has participated in more than 10,000 documented news media interviews, testified as an expert witness in two separate $billion+ U.S. anti-trust trials, testified before the U.S. Congress, assisted the GAO with paymentsIMG_2006 (1).jpeg reports, chaired numerous business conferences and provided C-Suite opinion to a multitude of Fortune 500 companies. In retirement, he has continued developing and funding digital media assets as well as contributing payments related analysis/content to a broad list of online publishers, including CardFlash, CardTrak and CardData. McKinley is also a national certified mentor with the non-profit SCORE organization with a focus on assisting Fintech startups. www.robert-mckinley.com

Mahindra Comviva has inked a strategic agreement with the Pole SCS for HCE (Host Card Emulation) solutions and development. Among the companies participating in the SCS cluster are Gemalto, ST Microelectronics, Inside Secure, Orange, Telecom Italia and a large number of innovative startups in these fields.

American Express global Gross Dollar Volume (GDV) is growing 3.3% annually, compared to an average of 1.6% for its peer group: the four top U.S.-based networks, according to CardData. RAM Research forecasts Q2 global AmEx GDV will slightly exceed $276 billion.